text:
At 12.15pm on Sunday afternoon, this live blog got under way. Nearly 32 hours later, the time has come to say goodbye. But in the spirit of the Oscars, there are just a few teary thank yous to be shared. Firstly thank you to James Lachno, Patrick Smith and Charlotte Runcie who expertly guided this ship through the long hours of the night and to Alice Vincent who took the helm as they emerged bleary-eyed into the dawn. Thank you also to all those who commented and contributed throughout the Oscars 2014, it's been a great year and a fitting tribute to a fine selection of films.
Well done to all the thoroughly deserving winners and also to all of these guys for being so damn good-looking and talented. Your place in Oscars history is assured. 2,844,661 retweets and counting.
I was highly critical of CNN earlier today for questioning the performance of Oscars host Ellen DeGeneres but Nick Allen informs me that CNN were not alone.
"While the selfie was an undeniable stroke of genius, and there were a couple of good jokes, there were also mutterings in Hollywood that Ellen's gags at the expense of Liza Minnelli and Amy Adams were harsh, and also that the show went on 'way too long'. The Hollywood Reporter's withering headline today read: 'Ellen flops in long, boring, self-involved show.' The trade publication said she was 'way off her game' and described the ceremony as 'turgid, badly directed, poorly produced and featuring an endless string of tired or wince-inducing moments from host Ellen DeGeneres.' Ouch. The Los Angeles Times review was better, but still mixed. It said: 'Watching DeGeneres wander through the audience to pat 'Marty' and 'Brad' on the shoulder or hand Jennifer Lawrence and Bradley Cooper pieces of pizza was not as hilarious as many people clearly thought it would be.' It's a tough gig hosting the Oscars if you're not Billy Crystal. Anyone for Ricky Gervais next year?"
If you haven't been following this blog all day (it's a Monday, no excuses) this is worth a look. It's Ross Jones being very funny about those stars for whom it wasn't alright on the night. Ross, you are an aspiration to us all (read the piece before criticising my grasp of basic grammar).
Read it here: Osacrs 2014: the 5 biggest gaffes
For those of you who didn't know how to open that tweet, here is Ellen DeGeneres looking understandably shattered. Or has she just done a Neknomination?
Onto the next for Ellen DeGeneres
This is wonderfully stoic from Ellen DeGeneres, who has a LIVE SHOW TO DO TONIGHT, folks. Next time you feel a little jaded, just have a think... just have a think.
How many people have photoshopped their heads onto that Ellen DeGeneres selfie I wonder? It is (was) an excellent joke but now please, please desist.
"Near the exit, Spike Lee, in spiffy sneakers and hat, munched a bag of Lay's potato chips and talked serious baseball history with Bruce Dern, who no longer looked like the bloated, nasty old drunk he played in Nebraska, but still looked old."
Sounds excellent actually.
Under-appreciated photo of the night:
The selfie we perhaps weren't supposed to see
From those who have been nominated for an Oscar immediately, to those who never have. There are some big names in this gallery, including Richard Gere, Donald Sutherland, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Marilyn Monroe. Okay, so in the wider scheme of things, it's not the worst thing in the world but in Hollywood... the horror, the horror.
Lupita Nyong'o is in good company as an actress who has won an Oscar for their debut film. Barbra Streisand, Julie Andrews and Mercedes McCambridge all did the same, so here's hoping Nyong'o's fortunes follow a similar trajectory.
Interesting how CNN have reported the Oscars: "...the Oscars show was somewhat staid this year. Some of Ellen DeGeneres' jokes fell flat..." Frankly I couldn't disagree more.
Lupita Nyong'o deserves all the credit she's getting and Tim Robey suggests we'll be seeing an awful lot more of her in the months and years to come.
Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years a Slave
"Nearby, Leonardo DiCaprio embraced Jane Fonda and laughed as his mother Irmelin, whom he brought as his date, did a jig to "Celebration" by Kool & The Gang."
Brilliant write up of the Vanity Fair after party from Nick Allen who was fortunate enough to be there.
Read all the gossip here: Oscars: partying with Hollywood's elite
I'm starting to wonder if my weekend wasn't rather tame after all. I knew I should have gone out with Sacha Baron Cohen, Isla Fisher, Diane Kruger and Joshua Jackson.
Sacha Baron Cohen: "And then everyone said, 'Jabroni!'"
(Getty Images)
Good evening, sir.
(Film Magic)
As Hollywood wakes up bleary-eyed and confused as to quite what happened last night, stories of what went down at the Vanity Fair party are starting to circulate. And the pick of them has to be Bill Murray leading a rendition of The Beatles' Twist and Shout in a group that included Lupita Nyong'o. If I can find video evidence of this, you shall be the first to know.
Cumberbatch update! In a typically cool move from Benedict Cumberbatch, the 12 Years a Slave (and Sherlock and The Hobbit and Star Trek etc. etc.) star shimmied in to the Vanity Fair after party singing Happy by Pharrell Williams. It probably sounded nothing like this:
Did John Travolta not turn up to rehearsal? Can Zac Efron read? And did Harrison Ford know where he was? I'm going to say "no" to all of those. Here's Ross Jones picking over the bones of last night's blunders.
"He perked up considerably when Ellen DeGeneres began handing out pizza; make of that what you will." Find out who that is a reference to in Oscars: the 5 biggest gaffes.
Earth to Harrison Ford (Rex)
I thought that Ellen DeGeneres did a grand job last night (My favourite line, if you're interested: "Here's a man, he needs no introduction. But if I don't, he'll never know when to come out. Please welcome Brad Pitt.") but old Ricky Gervais is vying for the chance to present the Oscars next year. Most worryingly, 18,000 people agree that he's the right man for the job. Somebody stop this bandwagon now.
Oscar-winning British composer Steven Price kept things suitably British in his acceptance speech last night. Martin Chilton has the full story.
"There was an endearingly British quality to the Oscars speech of Steven Price after the 36-year-old from Nottingham had won an Academy Award for best original score for Gravity. Price, who is fast becoming one of the most in-demand film composers, thanked his family, and joked backstage: "Mum, Dad, Jenny - sorry I made so much noise while I was growing up."
Read the full story here: Steven Price, a British hero of the Oscars
Continuing (as loosely as ever) the Twitter theme, this is quite an interesting piece of analysis from global media agency, Carat. They monitored social media activity between January 15 and February 25 and, based on the most popular conversations, trends and hashtags, correctly predicted 3 winners out of 4 (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress). The one they got wrong? Best Actor. Who'd have thought it, but Twitter was supporting Leo DiCaprio, not Matthew McConaughey #madfans
This blog has long been (for at least 12 hours) an admirer of Mr DiCaprio. The Wolf of Wall Street actor was snubbed again by the Academy this year and 'Poor Leo' is still trending on Twitter. Our very own Robbie Collin has written an excellent piece explaining why Leo DiCaprio's time will come:
Read it here: Poor Leo: will Leonardo DiCaprio ever win an Oscar?
For my part, I thought we should put another picture of him in this blog.
They said what?! The heroic Tim Robey has compiled the 3 best and the 3 weirdest Oscars acceptance speeches, featuring Alfonso Cuarón (good) and Matthew McConaughey (bad, in a Matthew McConaughey sort of way).
Read it here: Oscars speeches: the 3 best speeches and the 3 weirdest
Oh and here's a picture of Robert Lopez, celebrating his Oscar.
Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez kiss while holding their Oscars for best original song PHOTO: REUTERS
The 86th Academy Awards was an Oscars of firsts:
Steve McQueen became the first black director to win the Oscar for Best Picture (12 Years a Slave)
Disney won in the Best Animated Feature Film category for the first time (Frozen)
Alfonso Cuaron became the first Mexican to win an Oscar for Best Director (Gravity)
Robert Lopez, who took the gong for Best Original Song, was the first Filipino-American to win an Oscar (Frozen. And yes, I've added the video below just to prove how well-deserved this was).
Another rather excellent photo, courtesy of Jennifer Lawrence. No, not the one of her falling over or using Matthew McConaughey as a crutch. This is the one of her snatching Lupita Nyong'o's Best Supprting Actress Oscar. Or is it an arm wrestle? Either way, bravo.
It's nearing 4am in Los Angeles, so the parties are probably dying down a little. However, here are a couple of shots of when they began earlier in the night:
Oscar winners Anne Hathaway and Jared Leto attend the 2014 Vanity Fair Oscar Party
David O. Russell poses with Spike Jonze's Oscar at the 2014 Vanity Fair Oscar Party
See more photos here: Oscars 2014: Celebrities at the after-parties
Showbusiness Editor Anita Singh has created The Definitive Guide to the Oscars - every selfie, every stumble, every sympathy for #PoorLeo...
Check it out: Oscars highlights: what you need to know
Latest in Ellen Selfie news: Liza Minelli tried to get in, but was too short, as this photo evidences :( Will #PoorLiza trend now?!
So Ellen DeGeneres's selfie (that was techincally taken by Bradley Cooper and his average-length arm) has been retweeted nearly 2.5 million times - smashing Obama's "Four more years" Twitter record. Inevitably, others have been getting in on the game. Regretfully, we never captured the Telegraph Oscars team in a similar fashion, but here are some people who have got behind the lens á la DeGeneres.
In Turkey, Twitter user Ömür Özdemir created his own take on the Oscars Ellen selfie.
In Jakarta, Indonesia, Dara Prayoga took the role of Bradley Cooper in a DIY Ellen Selfie.
At Radio One, the BBC Breakfast team got their famous faces on to try and beat the real deal on retweets.
Over on ITV, the Daybreak team give it a go too.
It's comforting to know that Oscar winners get pasta-necklaces too... Decidedly better than the genital surgery offered in the official goodie bags, anyway.
It was a good night for Robert Lopez, who won best original song with wife Kristin Anderson-Lopez for Let It Go from the Disney hit Frozen. Lopez became the fastest man to win an EGOT - Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony - and the first Filipino-American to win an Academy Award. In a sweet moment after the ceremony, his wife presented him with a necklace made out of pasta twirls by his daughters Katie and Annie.
The latest in #PoorLeo news from Martin Chilton:
Leonardo DiCaprio missed out to Matthew McConaughey for the best actor award, prompting #poorLeo to trend on Twitter. Even Alex Ferguson, who was at the Oscars, weighed in on the subject. "McConaughey was fantastic in Dallas Buyers Club, he deserved it," said the former Manchester United manager.
Film Critic David Gritten has written in praise of Ellen DeGeneres' hosting last night.
You can read his full piece, How Ellen DeGeneres got the Oscars audience on its feet, here but here's a teaser (sadly not pizza-flavoured):
"DeGeneres poked fun at the idea that the audience was divided into winners and losers on the night; she presented Bradley Cooper with a of lottery scratch cards as consolation for not winning an Oscar."
We have more stars on instagram for you!
Kelly Osbourne posted this delightful shot of her throttling a graceful Lady Gaga. In the background, Sir Elton John is clearly being told something a bit scandalous - or is that the face of a knowing photobomber?
The Academy also snapped 2013 Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence using 2014 Best Actor Oscar winner Matthew McConaughey as a prop.
The Academy captured possibly the most photogenic couple in Hollywood on the red carpet a few hours ago...
James Franco selfied himself relaxing at home with a burger to watch the Oscars 2014...
Latest in from the Fashion desk - Jennifer Lawrence's epic trip in full photographic glory. Speaking as one myself, I salute her on behalf of the clumsy women of the world.
Ok, internet fans, here is a little intertextual Oscars YouTube fun to start your Monday:
For those who don't immediately get the joke, a little context: in 2007, a video of a toddler named Harry and his baby brother Charlie was uploaded onto YouTube. In the video, Charlie bit Harry's finger, and the ensuing hilarity went viral.
Seven years later, American comedian Jimmy Kimmel dedicated his annual Oscars after-show fake film trailer to viral videos. The one above is for the fictitious picture Bitman Begins, a revenge thriller starring real life brothers Liam and Chris Hemsworth, and Oscar winners Meryl Streep (as their mother) and Tom Hanks. It's funny.
Tim Robey has just filed his verdict on the best and weirdest Oscar speeches. You'll be able to read it in full later, but until then, here's a teaser:
"McConaughey is wonderful in Dallas Buyers Club, but reliably mad in all public fora, and his stint at the podium seemed to last forever. His biggest hero is God, his second biggest himself in ten years' time. Right down to "alright alright alright!", this speech was purest, cask-strength McConaughey, meaning it was a mixture of the undeniably heartfelt and the loonily self-worshipful. His line, "God has shown me that it's a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates" might be a handy motto in self-improvement workshops, but does anyone have any thoughts on how we might test that science? "When you got God you got a friend, and that's you" didn't clarify his position much either. Eventually he remembered there were still some other Oscars to give out."
So James Lachno has gone to rest his weary live-blogging head and blogger Black Tie, and Alice Vincent has taken over to bring you the best of the after-party gossip.
First, however, Patrick Smith is feeling sorry for Leonardo DiCaprio - and he's not the only one, #PoorLeo has been trending on Twitter all night...
Poor Leonardo DiCaprio. Another year, another snub. Nominated four times in his career, he's the perennial bridesmaid. I feel for him a bit. After all, his performance in
– as the wayward
– was for my money his best since he first received a nod from the Academy in 1994, for What's Eating Gilbert Grape? Let's be honest, though: he was never likely to triumph this year. Not with
undergoing such a dramatic physical transformation for his role in
. DiCaprio's time will come. Probably.
Our video team have put together an Oscar highlights reel, which handily rounds up all the best action from last night's ceremony in three compact minutes:
If you ask me, however, the selfie has nothing on this audacioius photobomb by Benedict Cumberbatch.
Henceforth, this shall be referred to as the #Bomberbatch, as coined by my beleaguered live-blogging colleague Charlotte Runcie.
If you're just waking up, then you might want to know that one of quirkiest stories of the night was that a selfie orchestrated by Ellen DeGeneres and featuring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Brad Pitt and Kevin Spacey has become the most retweeted image ever.
And here it is:
Martin Chilton has arrived in the building to relieve us - and comes with news that Prime Minister David Cameron has been tweeting away:
You can always rely on a politician to get in on the act. Prime Minister David Cameron has tweeted his congratulations to McQueen, saying: "Congratulations to British director, Steve McQueen, after his film "12Years a Slave" won the award for Best Picture at the Oscars."
If you didn't catch any of Matthew McConaughey's slightly bonkers acceptance speech for the Best Actor award earlier, you can see the whole thing in full below:
Angela Lansbury was deservedly given an Honorary Award at the Oscars overnight for her many years of acting service. David Gritten picks her 10 greatest performances on stage, screen and television, from Bedknobs and Broomsticks to Murder, She Wrote.
More from Nick Allen backstage, where the 12 Years a Slave gang are the toast of the Oscars:
They came, they saw, and they're going home with golden statuettes.
The 12 Years a Slave
crew found it hard to contain their joy backstage. Explaining his on-stage leaping, director
Steve McQueen
said: "Emotions, physicality took over - so, Van Halen, Jump! I'm as cool as a cucumber right now though." He clearly wasn't. McQueen recalled how as a child he had gone past Ealing Studios daily on the bus. "Anyone who is going by on the 65 bus - think about it, it can happen. Just go for it. Make it a reality, dreams do come true," he said.
What a really lovely winner.
Our chief film critic Robbie Collin has given his reaction to 12 Years a Slave winning Best Picture.
Steve McQueen
's film is the first
Best Picture
-winner in the Academy's history to have been directed by a black filmmaker, and also the first since In the
Heat of the Night
, which won in 1968, to deal with the black experience in America in a remotely meaningful way. The decision will be read variously as bold, long-overdue, intrinsically political and absolutely correct. But hey, this is Hollywood: why can't it be all four?
READ HIS FULL REACTION PIECE: 12 Years a Slave is the best Best Picture winner for a long time
Nick Allen's back with more from backstage - this time on Brad Pitt's messy dog.
He may be one of the biggest stars in the world, but Brad Pitt revealed his Oscars day began like many other people's. "I cleaned up dog poo," he said. "In my bedroom."
Pitt said he was so proud of 12 Years a Slave because it was "counter-intuitive" to how films are being made in Hollywood today. He fervently added: "I love this movie. I love this movie. Lupita is an absolute gem, grace incarnate, she's very special. Chiwetel was pitch perfect. At the end of the day we hope the film remains a gentle reminder that we are all equal. We all want the same dignity and opportunity for our families. Another's freedom is everything. That's it. That's everything."
Here Brad is looking on as Lupita wins Best Supporting Actress
What did everyone think of Ellen DeGeneres as host? I thought she was rather wonderful - funny without being snide, warm without being cloying, and never afraid to make herself the butt of the jokes. Round of applause.
Ellen DeGeneres dresses up as the 2014 Oscars
More great pictures from the film industry's biggest night of the year:
Ellen DeGeneres gives some pizza to Best Supporting Actor winner Jared Leto
Matty Mc wins Best Actor for his role in Dallas Buyers Club
Jennifer Lawrence being, you know, Jennifer Lawrence
Here's some great stuff from Nick Allen, who saw Best Supporting Actress winner Lupita Nyong'o backstage after her win:
Moments after her win Lupita Nyong'o was still on cloud nine. Clutching her statuette close, she said: "This is my first time here and I feel like Willy Wonka in the chocolate factory. I'm a little dazed. I can't believe this is in my hands, I can't believe this is real life. I'm really overwhelmed.
"I feel that Steve McQueen really honoured a people that have been unsung for a long time with this film. I just feel their spirits have been honoured. What I've learned is I don't have to be anyone else, I can be myself and do extraordinary things like this that I didn't think were possible. You have to allow for the impossible to be possible. It hasn't sunk in. It's in my hands but I haven't wrapped my mind around it yet. You hear people predicting you'll win but its not real until you hear Christoph Waltz say your name. It's perplexing, very perplexing but I'm so happy to be holding this golden man."
Here she is (third from left) with the rest of the cast of 12 Years a Slave, picking up the Best Picture award.
We've got a handy Oscars 2014 news story up now with all the winners info...
This is brilliant: check out Oscar Best Actor winner Matthew McConaughey on his prom night (via @leahkpickett)
Have a quick catch up on the winners at tonight's ceremony with our Oscars 2014 gallery
Leonardo DiCaprio congratulates Matthew McConaughey
The ceremony might be over, but we'll be here for a while yet, guiding you through all the Oscars reaction. In the meantime, here's our a picture sent in by our film critic Tim Robey, who's not actually at the Oscars, but at a party in London somewhere. Hope you're enjoying yourself, Timbo.
Night owl Sarah Crompton is finally hitting the hay - but not before she's given us her thoughts on the night overall:
That was a pretty good Oscars. Everything hinged on Best Picture. If Gravity had won it, then 12 Years a Slave would have been robbed. To see Steve McQueen's delight - jumping! - showed just how important it was that the most significant film should take the top prize. And because it won, you could appreciate everything else. Slick ceremony, excellent hosting from Ellen DeGeneres, better than average speeches from everyone. And a good spirit. Two heart felt mentions of God, a shout out for women's movies from Cate Blanchett, and a new world record selfie. Not a bad night.
That was such a breathless finish, we didn't get chance to post some of Cate Blanchett's hilarious acceptance speech for Best Actress. Here's the whole thing:
Here are a few good bits:
"Amy Adams, your performance in American Hustle blew my mind."
"Sandra, I could watch that performance until the end of time. I sort of felt like I had."
"Julia: hashtag suck it"
She also gave a shout out to her Blue Jasmine director Woody Allen, who has lately been the subject of controversy emanating from allegations from his 28-year-old daughter Dylan Farrow that he sexually assaulted her when she was seven.
Cate Blanchett wins Best Actress
Phew! It's all over then! Gravity wins seven awards, 12 Years and Dallas Buyers both win three. Amazingly, American Hustle and Wolf of Wall Street don't take a single award between them.
That Ellen and co selfie has now been retweeted an incredible 2 million times, by the way. Unbelievable.
WINNER: 12 Years a Slave
Captain Phillips
The Wolf of Wall Street
American Hustle
Dallas Buyers Club
Brad Pitt: "It's been an absolute privilege to work on Solomon's story. Thanks to the indomitable Mr Steve McQueen."
Steve McQueen: "I apologise but I'll just bore you all. Thanks so much to the Academy. To my wonderful cast and crew -- Brad Pitt, without whom this film would never have been made. I'd like to thank my mother for her hard-headedness. Everyone deserves not just to survive, but to life. I dedicate this award to all the people who have endured slavery and the 21 million people who still suffer slavery today."
Christian Bale - American Hustle
Bruce Dern - Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave
WINNER: Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club
Here's some of his speech...
"Thank you, thank you to the Academy for this, all 6,000 members. Thank you to the other nominees, all these performances were impeccable. I wanna thank John-Marc Valles, our director; Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner. There are three things to my account that I need each day - something to look up to, something to look forward to and someone to chase. I wanna thank God because that's who I look up to. He has graced my life with opportunities. He has shown me it's a scientific fact that gratitude reciprocates. To my family - that's what I look forward to. My father is up there with a pot of gumbo, a Miller lite, probably in his underwear. You taught me to be a man. To my mom, who taught me to respect myself. And to my hero, that's who I chase: it's me in 10 years. Every day, every week, every month of my life, my hero's always 10 years away. Just keep livin'. Thank you."
Best Actor coming right up... and it's Hollywood darling Jennifer Lawrence to present it. Matthew McConaughey for me.
And the Oscar goes to...
. No surprises there, then. But will she thank
Woody Allen
WINNER: Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
Amy Adams - American Hustle
Sandra Bullock - Gravity
Judi Dench - Philomena
Meryl Streep - August Osage County
Best Actress is up now! Could it be our British favourite Judi Dench? Or will Cate Blanchett take it, as widely expected...
Some of you nice folk out in the internet megaworld have been sending us some nice things. Here's a good one from Alan de Sousa Caires.
Loving your Oscars commentary whilst watching live on Fox Premier here on a Monday afternoon in Papua New Guinea! So proud that the British made movie Gravity is doing so well. Makes me wonder if Alfonso Cuaron helped to direct the filming of the fake first moon landing back in 1969?
Thanks, and keep reading!
Still not a single award for American Hustle. Patrick isn't fussed as he thinks it's overrated - and I'm inclined to agree. That said, our chief film critic, Robbie Collin, thought it was great.
David O Russell - American Hustle
WINNER: Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity
Alexander Payne - Nebraska
Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese - The Wolf of Wall Street
Here he is picking up his award.
For many of us making this film was a transformative experience. For a lot of people that transformation was wisdom. For me it was just the colour of my hair.
Here are Angelina Jolie and Sidney Poitier to present the award for Best Director. It's going to be another win for Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron), isn't it?
More from Nick Allen, backstage:
There are an awful lot of people from
wielding golden statuettes around here. Director
Alfonso Cuaron
said it was all down to Sandra Bullock: "This was all because of Sandra. Everything we were doing was honourng Sandra's performance."
British winner Glenn Freemantle picked up the Oscar for best sound editing on Gravity. He said: "I first met Alfonso in 2010. He said they were doing this film and there is no sound in space so what are we going to do?
"We tried to put the audience in with Sandra Bullock. You lock in with her. We were using heart beats and radio signals to bring hope and excitement It was about the emotional journey through Sandra rather than being bombastic."
And here's Ellen, collecting money for pizza, as discussed earlier. She appeared to be using an interpretation of Pharrell's original beige cowboy hat. Harvey Weinstein put in $200, apparently.
Deathly silence as Woody Allen is read out as a nominee for Best Original Screenplay. Embarrassment averted though: Spike Jonze wins for the lovely Her!
Eric Warren Singer and David O Russell - American Hustle
Woody Allen - Blue Jasmine
Craig Borten & Melisa Wallack - Dallas Buyers Club
WINNER: Spike Jonze - Her
Bob Nelson - Nebraska
12 Years a Slave
has won its second award - for
Best Adapted
Richard Linklater, Julie Delpy, Ethan Hawke - Before Midnight
Billy Ray - Captain Phillips
Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope - Philomena
WINNER: John Ridley - 12 Years a Slave
Terence Winter - The Wolf of Wall Street
"All the praise goes to Solomon Northup," said Ridley. "Those are his words. His life."
Newly-crowned Oscar winner Lupita Nyong'o just gave Ellen some lipbalm. I think for pizza. Then again, it's 4.30am here and I may be started to dissociate from reality.
Best Director and Best Screenplay coming up soon, we're told... could Alan Partridge really win an Oscar (for Best Adapted Screenplay for Philomena)?
... and
Let Her Go
has won
Best Original Song
, beating Pharrell and Karen O. Which it shouldn't have, if you ask me.
WINNER: Let It Go - Frozen
Ordinary Love - Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom
Alone Yet Not Alone - Alone Yet Not Alone
Happy - Despicable Me 2
The Moon Song - Her
The man and woman who came up to collect the award sung their thanks, which was pretty awful.
just won its sixth award of the night, for
Best Original Score
The Book Thief
WINNER: Gravity
Saving Mr Banks
Brit Steven Price picks up the award. "Mum, dad, Jenny," says Price. "Sorry I made so much noise when I was growing up."
Sarah Crompton, who is miraculously still up and keeping her eye on everything for us, tweets a funny about Goldie Hawn:
Goldie Hawn has left bits of her dress behind to make the curtains for the Frozen song.
And here's Tim Robey, who also wasn't impressed with poor old Bette M:
I don't think Richard Griffiths wanted to be remembered as the wind beneath Bette's wings
"We just crashed Twitter," says Ellen DeGeneres proudly, referring to her selfie from earlier in the evening, which is now officially the most retweeted photo on Twitter EVER. Wow.
In other news, here's Bono and Brad Pitt backstage. Is Bono about to embrace Brad, or deck him? Answers on a stamped addressed envelope.
John Travolta has just introduced Idina Menzel's performance of Let It Go from Frozen. It's all a bit Disney power-ballad for my liking, though my colleague Charlotte Runcie is merrily singing along and occasionally fist-pumping.
Make your own mind up:
Frozen, incidentally, is already the second highest grossing animated film ever.
Patrick Smith thinks that Bette rather ruined the tribute to departed stars:
The death montage, as ever, is done elegantly, as we say goodbye to James Gandolfini, Jim Kelly, Harold Ramis, Roger Ebert, Paul Walker, Karen Black, Peter O'Toole, Shirley Temple and Philip Seymour Hoffman. "We love you, we honour you, we miss you," says Glenn Close. "But most of we thank you." It becomes parodic, however, when Bette Midler takes to the stage to wail her way through Wind Beneath My Wings.
Bette definitely should have soared off stage in a feat of stage wizardry a la David Copperfield. But alas.
Anyway, this is what our film critic Tim Robey just tweeted.
reat night for GRAVITY, even if 12 YEARS rallies right at the end...
Goldie Hawn is currently telling everyone how brilliant Captain Phillips and 12 Years a Slave Are, if you were wondering.
While we've got a moment to draw breath, here's something from Nick Allen from the red carpet earlier on which I never got around to posting but is well worth a read.
On the red carpet I've has been speaking to the most important man at the Oscars. He's called
Brian Cullinan
and he's an accountant from PWC. The briefcase he's holding in this picture has 24 of the actual winning envelopes. His partner
Rick Rosas
carries the other 24. At this moment they are the only 2 people who know the winners and are accompanied by very big bodyguards. He wouldn't let Nick hold the briefcase.
Mr Cullinan said: "No I definitely can't tell you what's on the envelopes. I haven't even told my wife. Me and Rick are the only ones who know. We finished counting the notes by hand on Friday. We don't use computers so it can't be hacked. It's a big secret to keep but we've kept it for 80 years."
The Oscars' traditional In Memoriam spot is on now, which is a chance for the Academy to pay its respects to those in the film world who have died in the past year. 2014's edition featured: James Gandolfini, Karen Black, Paul Walker, Peter O'Toole, Richard Griffiths, Shirley Temple Black, Joan Fontaine, Harold Ramis. It finished with Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Blimey, then Bette Midler sang Wind Beneath My Wings. Really.
Here's Lupita Nyong'o's acceptance speech:
And here's Ellen DeGeneres as a fairy, ahead of the Wizard of Oz medley from Pink:
While we had a minor blogging outage, the award for Best Production Design went to Great Gatsby - the film's second award of the night. Has American Hustle won anything yet?
American Hustle
WINNER: The Great Gatsby
12 Years a Slave
Pink's medley of songs was to celebrate the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz. The film, not the book. The audience gave her a standing ovation, to be fair, so the warbling was actually pretty spot on.
And while Pink warbles Over the Rainbow in a red sparkly dress, why not get your teeth into some figures comparing Oscar Best Picture nominees budgets and first-month revenues, among other things. One for the stattos, this.
Here's a sneak preview:
Whoopi Goldberg is on at the moment, yabbing about how brilliant The Wizard of Oz is. While she's doing that, here's a shot of Ellen DeGeneres handing out pizza 15 minutes ago. We have no idea why she was doing this, but can reveal that Jonah Hill tucked in.
Gravity has won the Award for Best Editing! That's a first win for Alfonso Cuaron.
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
WINNER: Gravity
12 Years a Slave
Gravity is now up to five wins for the night already.
Bill Murray
Amy Adams
are up now, presenting the
award. Murray pays tribute to the
, whom he worked with on Caddyshack, Ghostbuster and Groundhog Day.
The Grandmaster
WINNER: Gravity
Inside Llewyn Davis
The first tears of the night. Struggling to get the words out, Lupita Nyong'o says "so much joy in my life is thanks to so much pain in someone else's. No matter where you're from your dreams are valid. Thank you so much for putting me in this position," she tells director Steve McQueen. "It has been the joy of my life."
Our Culture Editor-in-Chief Sarah Crompton thinks she heard Meryl Streep saying "ooooh, I've never tweeted before" during all the selfie shenanigans earlier . Ha! She's also got a good bit of trivia about The Great Beauty:
Odd The Great Beauty fact. La Dolce Vita to which it is a direct tribute did not win the best foreign film Oscar. So Sorrentino bests Fellini.
WINS BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS! "Yeeeees" she cries! And then she actually cries! Bless
Time for another biggie
. Now it's Christoph Waltz, presenting the award for
Best Supporting Actress
. Will it be Lupita or Jennifer? I reckon Lupita.
Jennifer Lawrence - American Hustle
Lupita Nyong'o - 12 Years a Slave
Sally Hawkins - Blue Jasmine
Julia Roberts - August Osage County
June Squibb - Nebraska
Crikey, apparently the Ellen selfie has been retweeted over 100,000 times in three minutes. Here's the official one:
... goes to Brit
Glen Freemantle
. "We were such a team on this film. I'd like to thank my wife, and my boys." Well done, old chap.
All Is Lost
Captain Phillips
WINNER: Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Lone Survivor
And the award for second fluff up of the night goes to:
Chris Hemsworth
Charlize Theron
, for the presenting of Best Sound Mixing.
won it, eventually.
Captain Phillips
WINNER: Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Inside Llewyn Davis
Lone Survivor
Patrick Smith was furiously noting down the winner's speech for The Great Beauty:
"Thanks to my inspiration Federico Fellini, Martin Scorsese and Diego Maradona," says director Paolo Sorrentino, accepting the award for his The Great Beauty in the Best Foreign Language Film category. It's a deserving winner. A gorgeous, exuberant satire of Berlusconi's Rome, it was one of my favourite motion pictures of 2013. Its opening scene, an opulent, debauched party honouring a celebrity journalist on his 65th birthday, is dazzling.
Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Ellen DeGeneres and various others just took a bunch of selfies together. Really.
Angela Lansbury won the Honorary Award from the Academy a little earlier. We've rounded up her 10 best roles, including Bedknobs and Broomsticks and Murder, She Wrote.
Ellen's back, now dressed in white, and hand's over to Brad Pitt, who then hands over to U2 to perform their Oscar-nominated song Ordinary Love (from Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom).
It's a surprisingly rustic and typically impassioned performance from Bono and co, if you ask me. Plus Bono sort of gives a shout out to Darlene Love at the end. Bravo.
Here's the original version:
Ewan McGregor here presenting
WINNER: The Great Beauty (Italy)
The Hunt (Denmark)
The Broken Circle Breakdown (Belgium)
The Missing Picture (Cambodia)
Omar (Palestine)
We gave
when we reviewed it.
So there.
There's a bit of a Twitter rumble about the Best Documentary winner - apparently #shouldhavebeentheactofkilling is now trending on Twitter. Yikes.
Here's Patrick Smith:
The first big surprise of the night sees 20 Feet From Stardom scoop the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. A love-letter to backing singers, the film beat The Act of Killing, Joshua Oppenheimer's remarkable and viscerally intense documentary about mass murder in Sixties Indonesia. Accepting the award, singer Darlene Love broke into a gospel song at the mic and got a standing ovation.
Our man across the pond, Nick Allen, interviewed The Act of Killing's director, Joshua Oppenheimer, in the run up to this year's ceremony.
Kevin Spacey
, who's recently been keeping me gripped in House of Cards, is on now to present the
Honorary Awards
Angela Lansbury
Steve Martin
Piero Tosi (who designed costumes for Death in Venice and La Traviata).
The Humanitarian Award was given to Angelina Jolie
Lansbury says: "You can't imagine how happy and proud I feel. I'm underserving of this golden chap" in her video acceptance montage
Bradley Cooper now presenting the Award for
Best Documentary
The Act of Killing
Cutie and the Boxer
Dirty Wars
The Square
WINNER: 20 Feet from Stardom
Woah, that was a bit of a surprise. But what a lovely documentary, paying tribute to pop's best backing singers. Read our feature from last year.
DARLENE LOVE HAS JUST SUNG HER ACCEPTANCE SPEECH. That was outstanding.
Our Fashion expert Olivia Bergin has finished her red carpet hits and misses gallery.
And here's Celia Walden on the secret suffering of a night at the Oscars.
Kate Hudson
Jason Sudeikes
to present
Best Live Action Short Film
Aquel No Era Yo (That Wasn't Me)
Avant Que De Tour Perdre (Just Before Losing Everything)
WINNER: Helium
Pitääkö Mun Kaikki Hoitaa? (Do I Have to Take Care of Everything?)
The Voorman Problem
Anders Walter and Kim Magnusson picked up the award for Helium. "Wow, this is crazy," says Walter, while Magnusson gives a nice shout to his mum, who's sick at home.
Facing Fear
Karama Has No Walls
WINNER: The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Prison Terminal: The Last Days of Private Jack Hall
Nick Allen has some news from Jared Leto backstage:
Speaking backstage Jared Leto said "anyone want a feel?" before passing his Oscar around. "Heavy isn't it, who's your favorite Oscar winner now?" he said. "I'm going to party until the break of dawn." Explaining the nerves he felt in his acceptance speech he added: "At one point I was looking at De Niro - as if the room wasn't intimidating enough. So I had to go back to looking at my Mom."
Zac Efron just fluffed his lines horribly introducing Karen O and Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig, performing Moonsong, from Her.
The performance is very stripped down and pretty. I love this soundtrack, it's killer.
Emma Watson and Joseph Gordon-Levitt to present the award of Visual Effects... and it's the first award of the night for Gravity! Could be plenty more to come yet.
: Gravity
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Iron Man 3
The Lone Ranger
Star Trek Into Darkness
Pharrell Williams managed to get actresses Lupita Nyong'o, Amy Adams and Meryl Streep dancing during his live performance of Happy (more of this to come). In the meantime, here he is:
And here they are...
And now here's the award for Best Animated Feature Film:
Despicable Me 2
WINNER: Frozen
The Croods
Ernest & Celestine
The Wind Rises
Disney's Frozen always seemed the most likely winner in this category. Surprisingly, it's the first time Disney has ever won this category. Well I never.
Here are Peter Del Vecho, Jennifer Lee and Chris Buck accepting the award:
Matthew McConaughey and Kim Novak now presenting the award for Best Animated Short Film:
Get a Horse!
WINNER: Mr Hublot
Room on the Broom
Here's a trailer for the winning film:
Jared Leto winning the Best Supporting Actor Oscar
Read our
review of
And the Oscar for Best Make-Up and Hairstyling goes to Dallas Buyers Club. Adruitha Lee and Robin Matthews win this one. This make up cost just $250, apparently. Amazing.
Samuel L Jackson and Naomi Watts now presenting the Oscar for Best Costume Design:
American Hustle
The Grandmaster
The Great Gatsby
The Invisible Woman
12 Years a Slave
And the winner is Katherine Martin for Great Gatsby! She had previously won for Moulin Rouge.
Benedict Cumberbatch has photobombed U2. Hahahahahaha!
Here's Patrick's take on Ellen:
What a contrast Ellen DeGeneres is to Seth MacFarlane, whose asinine, smirking school bully shtick last year struck a bum note. "I hosted this event seven years ago," this year's host DeGeneres says. "And I'm honoured they invited me back so quickly."
Her amusing opening monologue features playful digs at Jared Leto and Jennifer Lawrence, who'd taken a tumble for the second year running when she got out of the car earlier. DeGeneres praises Jonah Hill for going full-frontal in The Wolf of Wall Street. "Jonah, you showed me something in that film that I haven't seen in a long time," DeGeneres tells him.
She concludes that either 12 Years a Slave wins everything or the voters are racist. Our film editor, Ross Jones, says she may have a point: 94 per cent of voters are white and it's rumoured lots of them didn't even watch 12 Years a Slave.
Thumbs up, so far
Jim Carey is there now, introducing a montage of classic animation clips. And, er, no award, apparently, because here's Kerry Washington - who's introducing Pharrell Williams singing Happy from Despicable Me 2. He's looking as chic as ever in a black zip-up Adidas top and a black version of his infamous Vivian Westwood cowboy hat.
Here's an amazing wide-angle shot of the inside of the ceremony.
And the Oscar goes to:
Here's some of his acceptance speech:
"Ellen I love you. To my fellow nominees - I'm proud to share this journey with you. To the Academy - thank you. In 1971, there was a teenage girl who was pregnant with her second child. She was a high school dropout and a single mum but somehow she managed to make a better life for herself and her children. She encouraged her children to be creative and work hard and do something special. That girl was my mother and she's here tonight. I love you mum, thank you for teaching me to dream."
He also dedicated to the awards to anyone who has lost there battle with aids.
Here's our Arts Editor-in-Chief Sarah Crompton:
High bar for heartfelt speeches. Jarred Leto thanks the Academy, fellow nominees and his mum. Plus mentions for the people of Ukraine and Venuzuela. And all Aids victims.
Here's Anne Hathaway to present the award for Best Supporting Actor. Here are the nominees:
Bradley Cooper - American Hustle
Barkhad Abdi - Captain Phillips
Michael Fassbender - 12 Years a Slave
Jonah Hill - The Wolf of Wall Street
Jared Leto - Dallas Buyers Club
My money's on Jared Leto, if you're wondering.
Ellen just mentioned the real Philomena Lee (the subject of the Best Picture-nominated film Philomena). Nick Allen says she was quite a hit on the red carpet earlier:
She said it was the "highlight of my entire life". When she told friends Dame Judi Dench was playing her in a movie they didn't believe her. She said: "They thought I'd gone a bit...you know". Her co-star Steve Coogan said: "I read this book four years ago and it was a passion project. I didn't think anyone would be interested".
First quip from host Ellen DeGeneres: "thanks for your prayers" - a reference to the terrible weather that Los Angeles has been suffering. She also said she was "honoured and flattered" to be asked to present the awards again, seven years after the first time she did so.
Here's David Gritten on why tonight is a biggie for the host.
Ellen DeGeneres
Here we go, folks, it's the 2014 Oscars!
Leo and Brad have made it:
Leonardo DiCaprio is up for Best Actor
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie at the 86th Academy Awards
Nick Allen has a much better view now. He's been talking to Oscars chef Wolfgang Puck on the red carpet. Says Wolfgang:
"There are a lot of vegetarians here so we have a lot of that food. We've made 40 dishes. I promise no one will go home hungry!"
Matthew McConaughey has the poise of an Academy Award winner in the making, don't you think?
He's come a long way since his breakthrough as sleazy twenty-something perving on teenage girls in Richard Linklater's wonderful coming-of-age film Dazed and Confused. "The thing I love about high school girls: I get older, they stay the same age," was his immortal line in that one, as I recall.
Here's what Patrick reckons:
And here's Matthew McConaughey, a lot of people's favourite to win Best Actor for Dallas Buyers Club. The Academy loves it when an actor changes his or her appearance dramatically for a role and McConaughey certainly did that: the 44-year-old Texan shed 51lb for his portrayal of Aids sufferer Ron Woodroof.
Does that mean he's going to win? Maybe.
Apparently Judi Dench isn't going to show up! BOOOOO! Does this mean she's had a tip off that she won't win Best Actress for Philomena? And even though Julie Delpy is up for Best Actress for Before Midnight, she's been slagging off the Academy, saying Oscar voting is rigged.
The stars keep coming!
Pharrell Williams
Charlize Theron
...and another one of Jennifer Lawrence
Here's Patrick Smith's take on her latest tumble:
"Oh J-Lawz. Getting out of her car, the 23-year-old – who's dressed in a red Christian Dior gown – tripped and fell on the red carpet. At least she's consistent."
More more more from the red carpet...
Benedict Cumberbatch
Kevin Spacey
Julie Delpy
Keep an eye on all the fashion hits and misses at the Oscars 2014 with our dedicated gallery.
Jennifer Lawrence has tripped over AGAIN! What is she like!?
Jennifer Lawrence, up for Best Supporting Actress for American Hustle
Cate Blanchett is here! And Jared Leto! The former seems to be nailed on for her second Best Actress Oscar, for Blue Jasmine. The latter is an outsider for Best Supporting Actor for Dallas Buyers Club - though Patrick is backing him: "Jared Leto is at the top of his game, bringing both gentle humour and pathos to the role of an HIV-positive transgender woman."
Cate Blanchett
Jared Leto
Here's from our man on the red carpet, Nick Allen, who's caught Calista Flockhart and hubby Harrison Ford sharing a wee kiss:
More gems from the red carpet, including 12 Years a Slave stars (and possible Oscars 2014 victors) Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong'o, and Naomi Watts:
Chiwetel Ejiofor
Lupita Nyong'o
Naomi Watts
Check out our gallery of red carpet highlights so far. We'll update it through the night.
We've also collated some of the best celebrity selfies on Instagram:
Joseph Gordon-Levitt looking fly
And here's Anna Kendrick, the "thinking person's Jennifer Lawrence", according to Telegraph culture vulture Charlotte Runcie, who has just joined us for her gruelling overnight Oscars stint.
Here's fashionista Olivia again, this time on Kendrick:
Anna Kendrick's dress is a bit too on the fussy/ ice-skater side to really deliver. The star chose a catwalk creation by New York Fashion Week label J. Mendel, but in our eyes, it turned out to be a bad one.
00.14 Steve McQueen is on the red carpet
Steve McQueen has arrived, aiming to become the first black film-maker to win an Oscar for Best Director. He faces stiff competition, though: fastidious Gravity director Alfonso Cuarón is the front-runner.
Steve McQueen
00.07 Is truth stranger than fiction?
Many of this year's Best Picture nominees are based on gripping true-life stories. Find out what the films left out below:
Amy Adams is on the red carpet, looking gorgeous. She could take home the best actress tonight for her role in American Hustle. But she shouldn't, and won't, according to Robbie Collin's Oscars 2014 predictions.
You can't see it here, but our Fashion writer Olivia Bergin assures us...
Amy Adams picked one of her failsafe colours – navy, and it paid off. The actress looks resplendent in a strapless gown by Gucci
Here's our Digital Culture Editor Martin Chilton. Sorry, Russian folk, no Oscars for you:
One place they won't be watching the Oscars is Russia, where state television Channel One, the most watched station in the country, has cancelled live coverage of the ceremony in Hollywood because of the crisis over Ukraine. "The audience Is only interested in news at the moment", said the channel, which was due to run five hours of coverage between 4am and 9am Russian time.
Understandable, this one.
Apparently, Jennifer Lawrence is trending at no1 on Twitter, and she hasn't even turned up yet. Is there nothing this girl can't do? Here's a reminder of her infamous fall from last year.
And here's Pharell Williams (whose Happy, from Despicable Me, is nominated for Best Original Song) in hair and make-up, posted on the star's Twitter.
Apologies if you've been experiencing some technical hitches, folks - we have, too. Back on track now, about to bring you some stuff from the red carpet. Liza Minelli has appeared, with a blue streak in her hair!
Liza Minelli (Pic: Reuters)
Here's our Comment writer Tim Stanley, via Twitter:
The Great Beauty should be up for Best Picture! (not just foreign etc)
Patrick completely agrees with Tim here. He says: Paolo Sorrentino's film is a ravishing, swirling paean to modern-day Rome. In his five-star review of the film, Robbie Collin called it "a shimmering coup de cinema to make your heart burst".
22.51 More Oscars fun facts!
This time from Patrick:
* Matthew McConaughey may have shed 51lb to play Ron Woodroof in Dallas Buyers Club, but that's not actually the most weight an actor has lost for an Oscar-nominated role. No, that award goes to Tom Hanks, who dropped 53lb for Castaway (in 2000).
*Jared Leto, meawhile, has been nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his brilliant performance as an HIV-positive transgender woman, also in Dallas Buyers Club. Here are the other actors to receive Oscar nods for trans roles: Jaye Davidson (The Crying Game, 1992), Hilary Swank (Boys Don't Cry, 1999), Felicity Huffman (Transamerica, 2005), Glenn Close (Albert Nobbs, 2011).
Check out our gallery of actors who have undergone extreme weight loss or weight gain for movie roles.
The red carpet is under way! Here's Nick Allen's view from somewhere up in the Gods:
We'll bring you quotes and plenty of pictures from the red carpet as soon as something interesting is happening.
Our LA correspondent Nick Allen has been rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous at several pre-Oscars dos this weekend. Here he is with "a promising new Scottish acting talent" at the Great British Film Reception in Hollywood.
Used to manage a football team or something.
Thanks to those of you who are sending in your views on tonight's ceremony. Here's what film fan Steven Parker sends from Shoreditch:
The only major gong that seems to be in play is best supporting actress, but maybe Best Film is too. I get a sense we may have a "Crash/Brokeback" situation with Gravity vs. 12 Years: a film admired vs a film that the Academy can get behind (Crash - Hollywood, racism; Gravity - craft). Gravity might win as a "sorry" about not respecting cgi until now.
Hmmm, we mentioned earlier that nothing is ever cut and dry with the Oscars, but that Gravity idea is an interesting curveball. Keep emailing us your thoughts.
22.05 Welcome, film fans!
If you're just joining us, then you've missed all of the best stuff hello, we're glad you could make it. We're getting to the business end of things soon (i.e. that actual Oscars), so here's a preview of what to expect from my live-blogging colleague Patrick, who thinks this year's Academy Awards are the tightest in years.
We're now four hours away from the 86th Academy Awards, and it's hard to remember a tighter race. A quick look at the nominations and you'll see some notable absentees. How did the Coen brothers' soulful and elegiac
miss out for Best Picture, for instance? What about Richard Linklater's unflinching and natural
? Why was Tom Hanks's turn in
shunned? And how was Robert Redford's towering (some might say Oscar-baiting) performance in the survival drama
The answer is simple: in the past 12 months, there have simply been too many good movies. Writing in his film review of 2013, our chief critic Robbie Collin said that "this was the greatest year of cinema since 1999." And he's right. Gravity, 12 Years a Slave, The Wolf of Wall Street: each of these movies would make a worthy winner.
This year's Oscars are exciting, that's for sure, with Steve McQueen hoping to become the first black film-maker to win a Best Director Oscar, Matthew McConaughey looking to complete a remarkable career transformation and Jennifer Lawrence on the hunt for back-to-back awards. Cate Blanchett, as far as I can see, is the only shoo-in (for Best Actress).
This night of glitzy, shimmering excess begins when some of the world's most famous women and men slink down the red carpet at 11.30pm, a sea of flashy frocks, designer stubble and expensively coiffed hair. The ceremony then gets under away at 1.30am.
Patrick's bang right about Before Midnight, which was probably the most enjoyable film I saw last year.
21.40 Pub quiz fodder
Our Film Editor and Oscars mastermind Ross Jones has been busy burrowing through the Academy Awards archives and quirky 2014 stories to nose out more great tidbits. Here they are, with a few choice ones you may have seen earlier.
* Tickets for the first ceremony, in 1929, cost $5
* Only 2 per cent of Academy members are under 40
* The FX artists who created Smaug are picketing the Oscars. Find out why.
* The American Hustle costume designer is doing Wonder Woman next
* Counting the Oscars votes takes three solid days.
* Woody Allen isn't a member of the Academy, so can't vote. Nor is George Lucas. Meat Loaf and Madonna, however, are.
* According to a recent poll, almost two thirds of Americans have yet to see a single Oscar-nominated film.
According to a recent poll of Patrick and I, exactly one half of us has yet to see more than four Best Picture-nominated films.
21.10 Celebrity ogling
Rather than us blathering on about the essence of film, or the fact that I've grown an awful moustache* in honour of Best Actor nominee Matthew McConaughey and unlucky-to-miss-out Joaquin Phoenix, here's some of the stuff you really want: pictures of celebrities at Oscar parties on Instagram.
Lupita Nyong'o with Samuel L Jackson and Giancarlo Esposito
Cate Blanchett and flowers and something else.
(*Moustachio evidence to come.)
20.49 Place your bets...
Is it possible to predict the Oscars? This missive from odds comparison site easyodds.com dropped into my inbox earlier, basically suggesting I should put my house, gran, collection of vintage teddybears, and £43.70 life savings on Matthew McConaughey winning Best Actor.
The most significant movement in the Oscars betting market since the nominations were announced last month is in the Best Actor category. 12 Years a Slave star Chiwetel Ejiofor was the 4/6 favourite for the award in mid-January. But now Dallas Buyers Club star Matthew McConaughey is the 1/3 frontrunner and Ejiofor is out to 20/1 third favourite.
Our movies man Tim Robey loves a flutter, but suggests punters shouldn't get carried away with supposed formalities, because the bookies always call it wrong. There could be a good few shocks yet (so, er, stay tuned).
Will he, won't he? Matthew McConaughey is nominated for Best Actor
20.25 Spike of Wall Street
This is brilliant. Director Spike Jonze, who is up for Best Director at tonight's ceremony, had a cameo part in Wolf of Wall Street as a hapless penny stock salesman given the big cheese spiel by Leonardo DiCaprio.
Can any eagle-eyed Jonze fans reveal the last time that Jonze had a cameo part in a movie nominated for Best Picture? Here's a clue: it didn't win. Answers on a postcard to the usual address (@TelegraphFilm).
20.01 Weather watch 2.0
It's still a miserable day in Beverly Hills - which is making me particularly cheered that The Telegraph hasn't sent us out to LA to cover the Oscars. #Winning (in the smallest way possible).
Notice how this graphic (thanks, Yahoo weather) depicts torrents of rain in three different graphics, just in case you were unsure.
Helpful Twitter soul @dougalmurphy has also directed us to a webcam stream where you can keep an eye on the live weather yourself. Looks pretty, pretty grey.
19.42 Oscars 2014: Saul Bass-style
Artist Neven Udovičić has designed 'remixed' posters for this year's Best Picture nominees using the work of the great, much-copied Hitchcock collaborator Saul Bass as inspiration. Gravity is below, but the rest - as seen on his website - are just as good.
19.22 Who did Mary Pickford wear?
To answer that question, British company Mediarun Digital have created this lovely infographic showing the dresses worn by every Best Actress since 1929. Findings include: Armani is the most popular designer; four winners have worn trousers; and until 1947, nobody saw the point of wearing colour. Vist Mediarun for the full version.
18.46 Movie picture quiz
Some young and ill-informed people have been saying on Twitter and the like that 2013 was one of the greatest years for film in Oscars history. Granted, it was pretty good. But Tim Robey, who's even older and wiser than he looks...
...knows that in the past, cinema was better still. To prove it, Tim has picked the 5 greatest Oscar years OF ALL TIME. Here are the films that won Best Picture in each case. But can you name the year...?
1) 19??
2) 19??
3) 19??
4) 19??
5) 19??
If you can't guess, you'll find the answers and a very interesting article here.
17.55 Cate Blanchett takes the biscuit
Last night, after winning an Independent Spirit Film Award, Blue Jasmine star and Oscar Best Actress favourite Cate Blanchett announced plans to spend her post-awards break not brushing her hair or wearing clean clothes. "I think I'm going to go the full schlob," she told The Hollywood Reporter. One can only imagine she'll also be consuming vast quantities of the Australian chocolate biscuit Tim Tam, if this charming TV ad from early in her career is any indication. (Hat tip to Flavorwire.)
17.05 Some pre-Oscar facts
* The total make-up budget for Dallas Buyers Club was $250; according to Oscar-nominated make-up artist Robin Mathews, much of it was made from "grits and cornmeal".
* Johnny Knoxville's Bad Grandpa make-up, which is hotly tipped to earn the Jackass crew their first (and possibly last) Oscar, took 3 hours to apply and incorporated 'sweat channels', so the actor (below) wouldn't get doused in his own perspiration.
* The cast and crew of 12 Years a Slave reportedly lightened the atmosphere on-set with regular bouts of paintballing and go-karting.
* Pixar's John Lasseter is said to dress his two Academy Awards in a revolving wardrobe of Barbie clothes. Not Ken clothes. Barbie clothes.
* Tonight's ceremony will sparklier than usual thanks to 164,000 pieces of Swarovski crystal, which took 22,000 man-hours to craft into 24 pieces of scenery.
* On the orders of the costume designers, no denim, belts or ties were used in the making of Her.
* The high-waisted trousers worn by Joaquin Phoenix in Her were inspired by Theodore Roosevelt, rather than Simon Cowell.
* The producers of The Wolf of Wall Street have threatened to sue Gordon Brown's sister-in-law, the financial blogger Clare Rewcastle Brown, over her allegations (strongly denied) that the film was part-funded by the proceeds of government corruption in Malaysia.
* Counting the Oscars votes takes three solid days.
* Woody Allen isn't a member of the Academy, so can't vote. Nor is George Lucas. Meat Loaf and Madonna, however, are.
* According to one former Oscars seat-filler, a chief qualification for the job is that you be "between the aged of 18 to 29 and svelte".
* Head writer for tonight's proceedings is Kristin Gore, former Futurama writer and daughter of former vice-president Al.
* According to a recent poll, almost two thirds of Americans have yet to see a single Oscar-nominated film.
* Philomena co-writer Steve Coogan is now the fourth member of the Day Today team to receive an Oscar nomination. Armando Iannucci was nominated in 2010 for In the Loop; Peter Baynham was nominated in 2007 for Borat; and in 2006, Patrick Marber was nominated for Notes on a Scandal.
16.00 More royalties for David Bowie?
The theme of the 86th Academy Awards is 'Heroes', which many have taken to mean the costumed stars of the DC or Marvel universes. However, it's more likely to entail plentiful montages of screen heroes such as To Kill a Mockingbird's Atticus Finch, plus real-life heroes Ghandi or Karen Silkwood. Ironically, stunt actors - the actual heroes of many Hollywood films - have recently complained that that they're forever ignored by the Oscars.
15.30 What Emma Thompson will be drinking tonight
There will be two official Oscars cocktails at this evening's event: Blood & Sand and Penicillin. For anyone hoping to drink along with Ms Thompson at home, the recipes are below.
Blood & Sand
.75oz Johnnie Walker Black Label
.75oz sweet vermouth (Martini Rosso or Cinzano Rosso work fine)
.75oz orange juice
.75oz Cherry Heering (cherry liqueur)
Orange peel garnish
1.5oz Johnnie Walker Back Label
.75oz lemon juice
.75oz ginger syrup (2:1 simple syrup : fresh ginger juice)
Float of peaty single malt scotch (Lagavulin, etc)
Garnish with skewered ginger candy or lemon
15.10 The water-proof red carpet
As part of the ceremony's ongoing campaign to outdo the Baftas on every level, this year's Oscars promises to be the wettest yet. But survivors of Bafta's infamous 2002 soapy carpet incident (which was subsequently blamed on a carpet salesman called Frank) needn't be too worried. Although many in Los Angeles have been taken aback by this week's 'freak' rain storms, the Academy has "monitoring weather patterns for weeks", a spokesman told Deadline. Over the last few days, an army of workers has been busy erecting a weather-proof cover over the red carpet, ensuring that Bradley Cooper may never again have to suffer an American Hustle-style bad hair day.
13.55 Here's a recap of the major awards
...for what has been one of the most tightly fought Oscars contests for years
Best Picture:
12 Years a Slave
Captain Phillips
The Wolf of Wall Street
American Hustle
Dallas Buyers Club
Best Director:
David O Russell - American Hustle
Alfonso Cuaron - Gravity
Alexander Payne - Nebraska
Steve McQueen - 12 Years a Slave
Martin Scorsese - The Wolf of Wall Street
Best Actor:
Christian Bale - American Hustle
Bruce Dern - Nebraska
Leonardo DiCaprio - The Wolf of Wall Street
Chiwetel Ejiofor - 12 Years a Slave
Matthew McConaughey - Dallas Buyers Club
Best Actress:
Cate Blanchett - Blue Jasmine
Amy Adams - American Hustle
Sandra Bullock - Gravity
Judi Dench - Philomena
Meryl Streep - August Osage County
13.15 Are you a fan of short films?
Clips from all tonight's Oscar-nominated shorts, including Disney's fantastic Get a Horse, can be found here
13.00 In memory of...
...Alain Resnais, who died earlier today and will surely be mentioned in tonight's ceremony, here's Tim Robey in praise of his 1959 film Horoshima Mon Amour, starring a young Emmanuelle Riva (below)
Emmanuelle Riva
12.15pm THE LIVE BLOG BEGINS!
In the cinema you're usually stuck with a series of underwhelming trailers for action flicks starring Vin Diesel. Here you can limber up for the main event with some of the stellar pre-Oscars coverage written, produced and directed by the Telegraph's own galaxy of cinematic celebrities, our film critics:
* Anne Billson pays tribute to American Hustle's cleavage-wrangler in her Alternative Oscars
* David Gritten looks at what's at stake for host Ellen DeGeneres
* Tim Robey on the actors who lost out after winning an Oscar
* A complete list of the nominees
* Robbie Collin offers his predictions
* If you liked Gravity... Tim Robey suggests some films to try next
* And not forgetting the Razzies: here's Robbie Collin on why he hates them


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Syracuse edges Duke in overtime thriller
Published 12:00 am Saturday, February 1, 2014
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Coach K said he hoped this game would live up to its billing. It did, and then some.
Jerami Grant scored eight points in overtime to finish with a career-high 24 and Jim Boeheim's No. 2 Syracuse stayed unbeaten, topping Mike Krzyzewski's No. 17 Duke 91-89 on Saturday in a matchup of the two winningest coaches in Division I history.
The Orange withstood a tying 3-pointer in regulation and won before a Carrier Dome record crowd of 35,446.
"It was just a great game," Boeheim said after career victory No. 941. "I don't think I've ever been involved in a better game in here where both teams played at such a high level. Both teams just went after it. We've had a lot of games that have been here that are great. There's never been one as good as this one."
C.J. Fair scored a career-best 28 points as Syracuse (21-0, 8-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) set a school record for consecutive wins to start a season. The Orange remained one of three undefeated teams in the nation, along with No. 1 Arizona and No. 4 Wichita State.
"I knew for us to win I would have to contribute offensively," said Fair, who shot 12 of 20. "I was able to not force things once I got going. I felt I was the hot hand and my teammates kept giving me the ball."
Grant took over in the extra period, slamming home three dunks as Duke was forced to downsize after Jabari Parker and Amile Jefferson fouled out in the final two minutes of regulation.
"They were playing small. We knew we had a lot of mismatches around the court," Grant said. "After I got the first dunk, they just kept feeding me."
Duke's Rasheed Sulaimon beat the buzzer in regulation with an off-balance 3-pointer that tied it at 78. The Blue Devils led 87-84 with 80 seconds left in overtime before Syracuse rallied.
"Both teams played with so much heart," Krzyzewski said. "We were scrambling a lot because of our foul trouble and our kids scrambled well. They scrambled well enough to put us in a position to win … Just a tough loss."
Syracuse students camped out in the bitter cold for nearly two weeks and were part of a crowd that was charged up from the start for the first ACC meeting between these longtime powers. It was Duke's first game against the Orange in the Carrier Dome.
Parker had 15 points and nine rebounds for Duke (17-5, 6-3). The Blue Devils, who had won five in a row, get their chance to avenge the loss in three weeks when the teams meet again at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
"We just needed one more play, whether it was a rebound or a shot going in," said Andre Dawkins, who scored five points in overtime before fouling out in the final minute. "We just needed one play."
From the moment Boeheim and Krzyzewski walked onto Jim Boeheim Court to a deafening roar and hugged at midcourt surrounded by a sea of orange, the atmosphere was electric. Singing and acting star Vanessa Williams, a Syracuse alum and former Miss America, performed the national anthem.
The game was chock full of story lines, well before the tipoff.
Two Hall of Fame coaches and good friends with a combined 1,914 wins who had only met twice before on opposing benches, each winning once. Boeheim's signature 2-3 zone defense vs. Krzyzewski's intense man-to-man.
Fair, Syracuse's leading scorer, vs. Dawkins, a fifth-year senior who leads the ACC in 3-point shooting. Parker vs. Syracuse point guard Tyler Ennis, two of the most accomplished freshmen in the country.
The game was tied at 78 after regulation, and there were two more ties in the extra session. Grant had three straight slams for the Orange, while Dawkins hit a follow and a 3 from the top of the key as Duke took a three-point lead with 1:20 left.

subset: commoncrawl


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ERPLY, the leading provider of cloud-based POS software, has announced a strategic integration with PayPal to provide businesses, from single to multi-store, a new way to accept mobile payments and manage business operations. Consumers can simply "check-in" on their smart phone to their favorite stores and pay with PayPal,
With this new development, retailers can accept payments from a consumer's mobile device while creating a better shopping experience for both retailers and consumers. The service delivers innovative ways to interact with customers in a cost effective manner. The offering helps retailers bridge the gap between the physical and online worlds, by allowing retailers to get more insight into their customers to deliver more personalized shopping experiences – from customized offers to loyalty programs – and to help drive traffic to their stores through PayPal's popular mobile application.
The ring-up process – which now will only requires the cashier to match the name and photo of a customer – provides a quicker transaction at the register, eliminating traditional ways of purchasing products through card swiping or reaching into pockets for cash. Funds will be instantly available in the retailer's PayPal account.
Consumers wishing to use the new payment method will need to download the free PayPal iPhone app. To use the service, they will log in to the PayPal app, click the "Local" button and select a store from the list. Shoppers will slide the "pin" down to let the store know that they have arrived. To pay at checkout, the consumer will simply say they want to pay with PayPal. The shopper will automatically be checked out of the store and receive a receipt via email.
With ERPLY's ability to handle hundreds of thousands of SKUs and millions of dollars in transactions daily, this new solution will grasp the attention of larger retailers. Some early chain businesses adapting to this new technology at launch include: Sway Clothing, Rudy's Barbershop and Relax Feet Spas.
"We continue to be excited by our decision to run ERPLY as our store point of sale solution," said Jane Lee, CEO of Sway. "The PayPal integration allows us to give customers more choice and a better experience at the point of sale."
While managing point of sale, ERPLY separates itself from competitors operating multi-platform from iPad and/or the web to its proclaimed Windows client which allowing retailers to run sales both online and offline – a feature that encourages enterprise companies to move to cloud technology. Popular social media services such as Facebook and Twitter are also integrated into ERPLY's platform. Some key ERPLY features include the ability to generate sales reports, create gift cards and coupons, and set commissions for employees.
Key benefits for retailers include:
• Attract more customers: Grow your business by gaining access to 110 million active PayPal buyers around the globe. Your business will appear in the PayPal mobile app, used by millions of PayPal customers looking for local shops and services.
• More insight: See what your customers buy and when they shop, to provide them a better shopping experience.
• More productivity: Paying with PayPal is a quicker transaction so staff can focus on more customers and providing better service.
• More loyalty: Help customers save money by offering them what they want, when they want it, and build coupons or incentives around what matters to them.
• Decrease fraud: Because PayPal customers are already verified, retailers don't have to worry about bounced checks or stolen credit cards.


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All IT departments are subject to compliance requirements – both industry-wide and market-specific. With an emphasis on automation to save time and eliminate human error, Landscape includes several features that make compliance much easier to achieve and maintain, from role-based access control to extensive reporting and audit logging.
Patch compliance
By managing your systems in bulk, Landscape makes it easy for you to stay in control of every machine in your asset fleet, eliminating the complexity that can lead to non-compliance. You can see at a glance which machines are patched or not – and with which updates. You can define subsets of machines to be updated at different times or with different patches. And you can assign policies instructing them to update automatically – either with all available software updates or with security patches only.
More about software management with Landscape ›Role-based access control (RBAC)
As any IT manager knows, compliance is about more than reporting. It starts with the implementation of compliance policies and processes.
The latest version of Landscape introduces extensive access-control extensions, enabling you to implement the access policies you need. Roles such as 'Auditor' (with read access to everything but write access to nothing) or 'Security Analyst' (with authentication to execute scripts but not modify them or create new ones) can be defined, right up to the restriction-free 'Full Administrator' level. Fine-grained control over these credentials is provided, with a default configuration included to ensure that these features can be used without customisation. Meanwhile, CIOs will appreciate the ability to define independent security administrator roles when needed.
Watch the compliance and reporting video on the Working with Landscape page ›
Audit logging
Many organisations waste valuable resource by asking skilled administrators to spend hours or days compiling audit information manually. By using the automatic audit logging features built into Landscape, you can free up your administrators to concentrate on more productive activities.
Compliance reporting
Landscape can accelerate the process of producing and collating compliance information, thanks to its built-in reporting capabilities. All report data is published to the web console by default, but it can also be exported in CSV format or accessed via the API.
Landscape produces standardised compliance reports, showing which machines are up-to-date with security patches. Machines are clearly shown as compliant or non-compliant. For non-compliant machines, further detail is also available, including the total number of days for which they have been non-compliant (or out of contact with the Landscape server). The speed with which they are brought into compliance is also tracked, to accelerate the audit process.


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Burning a candle every now and then can help give your home a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere, perfect for holidays, dinner parties or just a pleasant night at home. However, some high-end candles can be pricey, especially considering that they have a limited lifespan.
Choosing a flameless candle can help you achieve the same warm glow and even save you money down the line, all while eliminating irritating smoke and fire hazards. Read this guide for more information about the different features and functions of flameless candles, along with three top picks. Sandstone & Sage Flameless Candle has a realistic appearance that can be enjoyed both indoors and outdoors.
As is the case with ordinary candles, when shopping for flameless options, you're bound to run into a variety of shapes and sizes. The type of candle you choose depends on your intended usage. Votives and tealights are small and subtle accent options, while taper and pillar candles are often much larger.
The design you choose for your flameless candle is based strictly on personal preference. Some may opt for classic white models that mesh well with most home décor, while others may prefer bolder colors or unique festive designs meant for holiday displays or special occasions.
Another major aspect to consider is the space where you plan on using your flameless candle. While some flameless candles can add an extra element to your yard or patio, not all models are meant to be used outdoors, as they can be damaged by rain, direct sunlight or other adverse weather conditions.
Will you be using your candle as a way to freshen up the room, or will it be more for decoration? Flameless candles are available in both scented and unscented versions, so you can decide which aroma, if any, is right for you.
While there's no need to blow out a flameless candle, those without timers require you to flip a switch in order to turn off the LED light. Candles with built-in timer settings can help you extend battery life by shutting off automatically after a certain amount of time.
One of the best aspects of ordinary candles is their flickering flame. Fortunately, you can now buy flameless candles that realistically imitate the varied movement of an actual flame. If you prefer a steady light, there are fixed-flame options as well.
Another feature unique to flameless candles is their ability to operate using a remote control. Candles that take advantage of remote controls often allow you to adjust the flame setting, timer setting, on/off setting and brightness from across the room, which is perfect for candles in hard-to-reach areas.
Certain situations call for a pop of color. Some flameless candles have multiple color options to choose from, so you can go from a warm white light to a calming blue.
If you're concerned about your flameless candle not looking realistic, consider choosing a wax-dipped model. Those that contain wax coatings have a more believable texture, making them hard to tell apart from ordinary candles.
The least expensive flameless candles can be purchased for less than $15, though most fall in the $15-$25 range. High-end models with advanced features may cost up to $40.
A. The lifespan of the batteries used in your flameless candle varies depending on battery type, candle model and usage. However, with most battery-powered flameless candles, you can expect anywhere from 100-450 hours of runtime. Though the batteries may need to be replaced every so often, the LED bulb itself can provide anywhere from 50,000-100,000 hours of usage, enough to last many years.
A. Yes, flameless candles are a much safer alternative to regular candles. Not only do they lack an open flame — which can be dangerous in households with children and pets — but they also reduce the release of any harmful chemicals and pollutants.
A. The LED bulbs used in flameless candles produce minimal heat, which is usually not noticeable to the touch. Unlike actual candles, flameless candles can be handled and easily transported from room to room without running the risk of burning your hands or fingers. Even if a flameless candle is left on for hours at a time, there would not be enough heat generated to cause any damage or start a fire.
Sandstone & Sage Flameless Candle
What you need to know: The sun-resistant resin exterior and impressive flame movement are great for those looking for a realistic, versatile candle that can be used virtually anywhere.
What you'll love: Featuring a convenient remote with dimmer and timer settings means you can adjust the lighting and mood without getting up from your seat.
What you should consider: Though they can be used outside, these candles should be stored indoors or under a covered area to prevent water damage.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
What you need to know: A great budget option that comes with 24 individual tea lights perfect for dinners, weddings, birthdays and other events.
What you'll love: Even at a budget-friendly price, these flameless candles still offer realistic flickering flames and are easy to use.
What you should consider: When compared to other models, these tea lights lack some of the more advanced features, such as a timer setting and remote operation.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
Vinkor Flameless Flickering Birch Bark Candles
What you need to know: This set of three candles is ideal for those wanting a standout design that still offers a lifelike flame.
What you'll love: The wax birch bark exterior combined with the multifunctional remote and low price appeals to a wide variety of homeowners and candle enthusiasts.
What you should consider: It's best to keep these candles away from direct sunlight and high heat, as the real wax coating can be prone to melting.
Where to buy: Sold by Amazon
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Matthew Young writes for BestReviews. BestReviews has helped millions of consumers simplify their purchasing decisions, saving them time and money.


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GerberMerger PCB Panelizing Program
Gerbers are text files that contain the information needed to create a PCB. I knocked up a rough and ready script to merge Gerber files to help panelize my layouts before sending them off to FusionPCB.
Magic Mouth v0.1
Build a Magic Mouth shield from scratch using the materials in the Github repository. Hear it in action speaking in response to commands typed into the Arduino serial monitor.
Home Made Arduinos
Making Arduinos was pretty laborious. The toner transfer went well, but drilling was a dental experience.
DIY PCBs By Stovetop Toner Transfer
If the clothes iron method fails for you, try this new twist on the toner transfer process. Put a heavy hotplate on the stove and dial in a temperature of 175 °C using a thermocouple. Bond the toner image to the copper clad board by placing them print side down onto the hotplate between two sheets of paper and applying pressure with a rolling pin for 2-5 minutes. For double sided boards, flip every 30 seconds or so.
December Swag Bag: FEZmini
The FEZ mini runs .NET, can act as a USB host with minimal adaptation, and balances on the end of a finger. Tip of the small, brimless hat to Seeed Studio.
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by John Melia
— Our thanks to the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) for permission to republish this post, which originally appeared on the ALDF Blog on October 3, 2012. Melia is a Litigation Fellow with the ALDF.
— This blog is part of our "Rescue Tails" blog series. Want to share your animal rescue story? Enter your rescued pet in our Rescue Tails photo contest!
It's October, and supermarket candy aisles, campy advertisements, and pop-up costume shops are already reminding us that Halloween is right around the corner. But while the cardboard cutouts of vampires and zombies will disappear on November 1, one famous mascot of Halloween will remain with us the whole year round: the black cat.
Black cats may enjoy seasonal fame around Halloween, but the rest of the year their beautiful black coats bring many of them bad luck. Unfortunately, black cats in shelters have significantly lower adoption rates than their lighter-colored counterparts. While no formal studies have been done on this phenomenon, it is widely reported by shelter workers across country. Black Cat Syndrome, as it is commonly known, traps thousands of otherwise adoptable animals in overcrowded shelters, and causes many to be euthanized. Whether it's because of their relatively plain appearance or the persistent superstitions about black cats being bad luck, Black Cat Syndrome is a serious problem for innumerable shelter cats.Despite the superstitions that haunt them, black cats can make wonderful household companions. I'm not just making this up, but speak from experience. One of my first cats, Truffle, was a longhaired black cat who brought me a surprisingly large amount of joy for being such a small animal. Like most cats she had a certain amount of feline insanity: her two greatest enemies were grocery bags and my old pair of Crocs. Her affinity for play and affection, however, did much to make my apartment feel like a home. Truffle is currently living in the Bay Area with her sister, Pepper, and their two awesome humans.
But you don't need to trust me on this. Though black cats have a widespread reputation for bad luck, many cultures throughout history have viewed these animals in a much more positive light. Scottish tradition holds that finding a black cat on your doorstep will bring good luck. Sailors in centuries past used to keep black cats on their ships for protection.Black cats also enjoyed a revered position in ancient cultures. Ancient Egyptians believed they could gain favor from the cat goddess Bast by hosting black cats in their homes, and in Norse mythology two black cats pulled the chariot of Freya, the goddess of love.
For those looking for more practical reasons to adopt a black cat, the San Francisco Gate recently posted a list of reasons that black cats make particularly good pets (including the excellent point that they won't leave visible hair on your black formalwear).
If you're in a shelter this month considering which lucky cat to bring home with you, give a little extra thought to the black cats in the crowd. Chances are they'll have a harder time finding homes than the other cats you see, and as a group they're amazing animals. So in the spirit of Halloween, think about adopting a needy black cat this month. You'll be lucky to have each other the whole year round.
Find a Black Cat Now!
To find a black cat near you, simply click the button below to take action, and enter your zip code into Petfinder. A list of adoptable black cats near you will be returned, with photos, videos and a description of your new lucky friend.